iOS (6)

Logic Pro X is a Major with a capital M update to their professional audio editing suite. It appears to represent a significant investment in both time and resources. So how is it being sold, especially to people who already paid $200 for the previous version Logic Pro 9? It is a separate app download with a full cost purchase. No upgrades, no introductory pricing, just straight forward sale.

I’d say that this is the best indication of Apple’s intentions and expectations for the App Stores going forward.

I know people are offended by the pricing, but the reasonable side of me wonders how they can be so offended. Perhaps the “race to the bottom” on the mobile side has poisoned us into believing software should be very cheap (or free).

We don’t need the deception of “photorealism” anymore. Despite the loss of these tricks, iOS 7 feels more real. The parallax effect conveys an entire living world under that glass, not just abstract pictures and icons.

On the surface, iOS 7 looks like a refreshed UI, and nothing more. But digging deeper and looking closer, we have entirely new channels of user experience and interaction design opened up to us – not because we can (we always could) – but because it’s the new status quo. The bar has been raised.

Apple has set fire to iOS. Everything’s in flux. Those with the least to lose have the most to gain, because this fall, hundreds of millions of people will start demanding apps for a platform with thousands of old, stale players and not many new, nimble alternatives.

There was a similar rush when the iPhone 5 was announced, but that will be nothing by comparison. This isn’t just a slightly taller form factor of the same thing. This is a revolutionary change to the way we see and interact with our applications. If you’re not in, you’re automatically outdated and showing increasing irrelevance with each passing day because others will put in the effort.

You may have heard about Smart App Banners, introduced with iOS 6. They are a nifty way you can direct people from your website directly to download your app.

These banners appear when somebody visits a web page with special code using Safari their iOS 6 iPhone or iPad. A small banner appears at the top of the page, listing basic app information, along with a link to view it in the App Store.

If you have a web site and an app in the app store, you have no reason NOT to use this.

This is one of those things that helps grease the path to conversions – anything you can do to make it easier for somebody to buy your app.